But if the national coach had witnessed this midfield tour de force, he’d have been sorely tempted to make a last-minute amendment.

The pounding forward runs, the snapping tackles and an obvious relish for mixing it was all in evidence. But Davidson, priced at £1 million by manager Steve Lomas, also produced an impressive range of perceptive passes and topped it with his first league goal of the season.

His display even overshadowed an inventive exhibition by on-loan winger Lee Croft, who had alarm bells ringing in the Pars defence every time he got on the ball.

One ferocious strike almost separated bar from post but he persevered and 12 minutes from the end, with Pars controversially back in contention, an angled penalty box run and precision finish tied-up the points, ended a 17-year wait for a home win in this fixture and advanced Saints into a lofty fourth place in the SPL. All in all, not a bad day’s work.

The Fifers bagged three points at McDiarmid early in the season but the optimism of summer has long since evaporated and polis adopting a softly, softly approach had to calm agitated Fife fans in the main stand as one-way traffic culminated in two Saints goals, from unlikely courses, in the space of as many minutes.

Fran Sandaza’s face was tripping himself when his shift was cut short but the striker played a part in teeing-up Murray Davidson’s 12-yard strike in the 33rd minute.

And his touch and vision was impeccable when he rolled a pass behind a bemused defender to present Callum Davidson with a chance to nail his first goal since returning north from Preston last summer, steering a shot across the keeper to nestle in the far corner.

The only surprise was how long it took Saints to find the net, despite losing influential skipper Jody Morris to injury in the 13th minute.

Pars keeper Smith has had some fraught moments this season but he kept the scoreline modest with several impressive stops. Sandaza and Wright came close early on before Liam Craig floated a free-kick over the crowded area only to see it rebound from an upright.

But Croft and Chris Millar linked with Sandaza for Murray D’s opener and the second simply oozed class.

After the interval, the action was concentrated on the Ormond Stand end, where young fans lured by the Tayplay Family Day were treated to a bird’s eye view.

The Pars, without a win in 18 and looking for all the world like relegation fodder, engineered their first corner after an hour, by which time Sandaza had scooped a shot inches past the post.

Croft battered the woodwork in the 70th minute and another goal seemed inevitable. But it came at the other end.

Substitute Paul Burns tried his luck from 20 yards and while two Pars players were way offside, the officials decided they weren’t interfering with play, despite being in distracted keeper Alan Mannus’ line of sight.

Bizarrely, the Fifers were back in to mix. But still the chances were created by the home side, even with Sandaza’s number up.

Craig pulled one shot wide and blasted another at keeper Smith before Croft secured the points on a day which did Saints no harm in pursuit of a top six place. Fans are already swapping tales of previous trips to Finland and Monte Carlo as they anticipate a rare continental expedition but even the securing top six status requires more work.

In the closing seconds, Cillian Sheridan believed he’d returned to the goal trail after dispossessing McCann in the penalty area. His deft dink completely deceived the diving keeper but clipped the inside of the post and somehow evaded the net and Millar was denied a last-gasp spot-kick.